Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency shuts down supplier to Parliament over bad hygiene
Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency said on May 19 that it had closed down a food preparation facility at the President’s office that supplies meals to Parliament over bad hygiene and other serious shortcomings.
“At least this breaks the myth about the quality of the meatballs served to members of Parliament,” the Speaker of the National Assemby, Mihail Mikov, said.
Food Safety Agency head Plamen Mollov said that the food preparation facility had been inspected after a tip-off from an “insider” whose identity has not been publicly disclosed.
According to Mollov, the food prepared there was served to people at the President’s office and to members of Parliament.
The private company preparing the food was found to have committed serious breaches, including poor hygiene, lack of an internal control system and shortcomings connected with the equipment, he said.
Mikov said that he was not aware of what the irregularities were and said that he was surprised that the outcome of the investigation had been announced to the media first.
The food preparation operation was a “secondary spending unit”.
The President’s press office said that the preparation of food for President Rossen Plevneliev was done entirely under the control of the National Security Service , and the process has no relation to external suppliers.
The Presidential administration had absolutely no relation to the facility managed by the National Assembly or to its suppliers of food and food products referred to in the investigation by the Food Safety Agency, the head of state’s press office said.
The food, prepared at the site in question, is not delivered to the Administration of the President,” the statement said.
“We are confused by the fact that the executive director of the national agency mentions the President’s Administration in the context of unverified and insufficiently specified facts connected to the inspection that is underway.”
(Photo: Pixaio)
